Overcoming colonial legacies to reclaim cultural identity

WEDNESDAY COLUMN BY USSIJU MEDANER

info@medaner.com, justme4justice@yahoo.com

Time and again, I have heard it said that Nigerians are happy people. Recently, it was stated that we are the second happiest nation in Africa. Would this be a compliment? I don’t think so. The tendency to accept each and every one of our current situations as our reality and adjusting our lives each and every time to emerging realities would perhaps be one of our greatest undoings. This is the same reason for which we accepted colonization and the colonial masters more easily than almost all other colonized entities. No sooner had the British taken over than we began to accept and do their biddings. Eventually, we had no life of our own anymore.

Before the coming of the British, we were a perfect people, with our perfect cultures and perfect systems. Politically, we were organized in ways that suited our uniqueness more than anything else. The South Western and Mid-Western Nigeria political system of checks and balances, the Northern monarchical system, and the Eastern republican system were well orchestrated to deliver perfect political control and administration of our systems.

Our cultures and norms were great instruments of state security and control. The systems literally had put in place control mechanisms that outlawed crimes and punished them holistically. Financial corruption was unheard of not because the tendencies weren’t present, but because the system didn’t condone it and deterrent instruments abounded. We valued hard work and rewarded honesty above everything. No wonder it is very rare to see unworthy elements occupying positions of authority and power.

Were we uncivilized? No. We might not have had the technology of the West, but we had a civilization that was equally unknown to the West. Our artwork was a straight example. But what became of us and everything indigenous to us at the coming of the colonial lords is unexplainable; in exchange for mirrors and sips of wines, we abandoned everything we were and clung irreparably to the colonialists, the British.

We became inferior in our own eyes, resulting in our way of life being perceived as devilish, our dressing culture local, our food not good enough, and worst of all, our languages given up for the occupier’s language. The bulk of our national current economic challenges rest on our insatiable desire for foreign goods; the Naira continues to suffer because it is never given the opportunity to compete. We gave up our own for foreign products.

Unfortunately, we stopped short of accepting everything from the British; we accepted their religion, culture, food but were not interested in accepting their technologies. So much so that sixty-four years after independence, we are still a non-tech nation.

We grasped the irrelevant, pride ourselves in the ability to speak Queen’s English to the detriment of Nigeria’s capacity to have and grasp real knowledge. Our schools consider our local languages as unacceptable vernaculars, and pupils are being punished for speaking them. We struggle with explanations and impartation of knowledge in another man’s language when our mother tongues, that we are much at home with, are outlawed in our local schools.

It is a fact that an average Nigerian pupil will understand what is taught in classes better in their local, indigenous languages, but we continue to amplify the superiority of a foreign language over our own. Our textbooks are scripted in complex expressions of English. It doesn’t make sense to us to write subject and course textbooks in our local languages, but it is important that we have religious books translated to all Nigerian local languages. Today, we read the Bible and the translation of the Quran in all Nigerian languages.

From 1858 onwards, the British government directly ruled India, which became known as the British Raj, with huge consequences on the people of India. It must also be established that the takeover of the country was not limited to the British; the Dutch, Portuguese, and French would also build settlements in port cities throughout the country. The occupation of India came with brutality, partly due to the non-cooperation of the Indians, leading to the gruesome killings of close to a hundred million Indians and intolerable living conditions.

There have been talks about the response of the Indians to colonization. There have been submissions that they roundly rejected foreign influences and stuck to their cultural patterns, but this is not perfectly true. No nation can be absolutely strong to totally oppose colonial influences; while the Indians have resolved and refused to bow to the unwelcome occupation, they had but to forcefully undergo several unpalatable changes in many social practices. In the 19th century, social practices like female infanticide, child marriage, sati, polygamy, and a rigid caste system became more prevalent in the country and more so till now.

But crediting the Indians, they stood their ground in areas that matter most and they saw opportunities still in their ordeal. They saw great things in one culture of the occupier, as it was termed then, modern technology, and they strongly desired it and forcefully domesticated it. By the time the occupation of India ran to an end, the Indians had developed a strong love and interest for British technology and they never stopped pursuing it. Today, the Indians have become a stronghold of global technology competing fairly well and almost surpassing the British.

On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, which divided their spheres of influence in the “New World” of the Americas, and that marked the beginning of the European occupation of America; Europe, just as much as they did, balkanized Africa, went on a rampage in the Americas, with the Spanish colonists establishing themselves as lords in present-day Florida in the 1500s. The English colonists went down the East coast of America in the 1600s; yet, during and after all the abuse, the indigenous people of North America maintained and preserved their cultures and dignity in the face of horrible dispossession. Today, the same America and Americans are in a lot of ways lords over their once colonial lords.

Between 1607 and 1783, British America was under the control of Britain. The native settlers, like others in colonized territories, were subjected to hellish treatments and saw attempts to alter their cultures and beliefs; for those who offered the slightest opposition, they were killed in large numbers, died in the course of enslavement, and had to succumb to new diseases or flee into the hinterlands in depleted numbers.

Today, the Indians are so technologically savvy that the best engineering textbooks are authored by Indians, and Indian universities are ranked as one of the best in engineering, ICT, and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and the nation prides itself on technological advancement.

One of the country’s basic official languages is Hindi, and across the Northern India Hindi states of UP, Bihar, and Rajasthan, teachings are done in Hindi, and examinations offered in a combination of Hindi and English. The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examination instructed schools across the country to use Marathi and 21 other official regional languages of India as a medium of instruction, in addition to Hindi and English. Twenty-two new textbooks were prepared in various Indian languages to aid learning in indigenous languages.

This has fostered a deeper connection with local cultures and greatly improved academic successes recorded in the country. Students now find it easier to grasp complex concepts when taught in their mother tongues, being familiar and easily relatable.

Today, as a nation, we stand at a crossroads, grappling with the legacies of colonialism while striving for cultural sovereignty and economic prosperity. It is evident that our overreliance on foreign products and the marginalization of our indigenous languages have hindered our progress. However, we have the power to reclaim our cultural identity and forge a path towards a more inclusive and prosperous future.

To achieve this, we must prioritize the revitalization of our indigenous languages in education and everyday life. By embracing our linguistic diversity and incorporating local languages into our educational system, we can empower future generations to engage more deeply with their heritage and unlock their full potential. Additionally, we must reassess our relationship with foreign products and prioritize the development of local industries to foster economic self-sufficiency.

As we embark on this journey of cultural and economic revitalization, let us draw inspiration from the resilience of nations like India, who have reclaimed their cultural heritage and emerged as leaders in the global arena. Together, we can overcome the lingering effects of colonialism and build a future where Nigeria thrives as a beacon of cultural richness and economic prosperity.

God Bless The Federal Republic Of Nigeria!